MASFAA Conference Provided Excellent Sessions and Great Networking Opportunities

Massachusetts State Senator and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Scott Brown got the conference off to a thought provoking start when he spoke during the general session on Wednesday. He connected with the audience during his presentation and got the conference off to a successful start.

President Gail Holt got down to business at lunch on Wednesday running the business meeting and handing out awards to deserving members. The business meeting progressed on schedule and concluded in time to honor some MASFAA members and one special contributor to our student’s success and our profession.

The Edward M. Kennedy Public Service Award was named in honor of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Within the financial aid profession, Kennedy was most notable for his work on issues related to higher education funding. As the Chairman and longtime member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he helped shape the major federal student aid programs, including Pell Grants in 1972, the Direct Loan program in the 1990s, and the Academic Competitiveness and SMART Grants in 2006. After the creation of aid programs, Kennedy constantly fought to increase funding for student aid and oppose efforts to eliminate or cut funding. It seemed fitting that Kennedy himself should be awarded posthumously the Charles Jack Sheehan Distinguished Service Award. MASFAA Executive Council could think of no better way to honor the legacy of Edward M. Kennedy.

Amanda Abreau of Northeastern University received the Charles E. Jones Achievement Award and some warm remarks by Ms. Heidi Gilmore, widow of Charles E. Jones. She told a few touching stories that highlighted Mr. Jones dedication to the industry and the students we serve.

Tony Erwin, also of Northeastern University, won the Presidential Award.

As the sun set members gathered to hear Mount Holyoke College Victory Eights, an a cappella group. Following the musical interlude the 40th Gala Dinner was held in the Grand Ballroom. It was inspiring to meet and greet new colleagues and some past MASFAA presidents. Evening entertainment commenced for the young and young at heart.

The Thursday session began with a general update from Justin Draeger, NASFAA’s Vice President of Public Policy Advocacy and Research. As the point person for public policy and advocacy goals Justin gave members an up-to-the-minute update on developments from Washington.

Lunch on Thursday provided outstanding life lessons delivered by former NFL Referee Jerry Markbreit. He drew upon his experience as a football referee who rose through the ranks from calling high school games to officiating Super Bowls. Mr. Markbreit’s presentation proved to be a much need diversion from talk of rules and regulations.

Thursday night featured a surprise buffet dinner that offered much needed time for socializing and networking.

Friday featured Roundtable Discussions and the long awaited Federal update. David Bergeron presented on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education and covered a lot of material during his one hour presentation. If you haven’t already done so please review his presentation on MASFAA.org for additional details. And while you’re at it review some of the other presentations featured during the conference.

In addition to general sessions and the like the conference featured numerous concurrent sessions. While we don’t have space to review each session, here are a few that caught the attention of the Newsletter Committee:

Implementing a Net Price Calculator
Paul Boyer of Williams College and Peter Giumette from Brandeis University discussed the provision in HEOA that relate to net price requiring institutions to report data to IPEDS for calculating the average institutional net price for first-time students and the net price for Title IV aid recipients by income category. In addition to Paul and Peter, a panel of financial aid administrators discussed plans for and challenges in meeting this new directive.

How to Move from FFELP to DL
This session discussed how various types of schools managed their transition to Direct Loans. Tony Erwin of Northeastern University, Patricia Reilly from Tufts University, Lynn Myers of College of the Holy Cross, Lisa Triplett from Lesley University and Ray Nault of Wheaton College all shared their experiences with attendees during an extensive question and answer period.

Implementing an Electronic Bill
This session challenged attendees to think about the benefits of an electronic bill on campus. A panel of schools (Jim Moodie-Tufts University, Monica Blondin-Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Valerie Cabral-Bridgewater State College) discussed the management of their transitions to eBill. The session discussed concerns that resulted on the technology and communications fronts.

Title X
Lori Seuch of MEFA and Betsy Mayotte from ASA gave a presentation about implementation of Title X which relates to amending Regulation Z and Title IV to incorporate truth in lending rules and regulations in private education loans. The session gave an overview of new definitions of private loans, the new disclosure requirements associated with them and what it means to institutional, private and federal loans.

This is just a brief summary of a few of the sessions offered at the MASFAA Conference. Please send along your sessions remembrances and we’ll publish them in the Spring Edition of the MASFAA Online Newsletter.

Finally, we invite you to view great conference photos at MASFAA.org under Photo Albums.